Category: Artificial Intelligence

This week Google introduced a lot of new hardware to us.  In one two hour window we saw the likes of two new phones, the Google Pixel and Pixel XL, a new Wi-Fi solution, Google Wi-Fi, and a connected home device, Google Home.  With Google Home and the new Pixel phones, we also saw the scope of what Google plans with Google Assistant.  Google Assistant is an artificial intelligence driven tool designed to give you information, both general and personal, just a voice command away.

The question facing us, as humans, is how do we adapt in what is clearly a shift to an Artificial Intelligence world?  Google by their own admission have 70 billion data points in their knowledge graph.  That is anything from a point on a map to a restaurant that is tied into OpenTable to when you are traveling to London next.  It is a vast amount of information.  Equally, if there is one truth to artificial intelligence it is that it always wants (needs) more information.  The more information the better because it gets smarter, more personal and more accurate.

With so many companies driving AI, not just Google, the question isn’t a matter of if it will happen.  It is a question of how fast it will progress.  I dare say it will be neck-breaking fast.  What we see in Google Home and Google Assistant today will be far richer and more knowledgeable in just 12 months from now.  By 2018, AI will be so intertwined with our world that we will no longer think about it being there.

Perhaps the more accurate question then is if you trust Google’s AI?  I say yes.  If there is one company that truly understands the power of information and personal data, it is Google and while they will surely use that data for profit, they equally understand that any leak of that data would be catastrophic for the company.  They are the best equipped not only to provide the best AI experience but protect us and our data from those who want to dismiss it.